


Three Steps Ahead

by chronicAngel



Series: Leaves in the Summer [55]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Goodbyes, Kissing, Naruto Gaiden, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 22:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14006226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: Sakura simply mutters to herself, just loud enough that he can hear it, and he wonders if it is a strategic move on her part even as he has already planned three steps ahead of her.SasuSaku Week 2018 Day 6: Favorite Cute Moment





	Three Steps Ahead

It's not a sight wholly unfamiliar to him, but it's so different from the last time he was greeted with it that it's an almost jarring contrast.

The last time Sasuke had to say goodbye, his daughter was only three, and he had thought at the time as he looked over his shoulder to see her waving like she had no idea just how long it would be before they saw each other again (and of course, she didn't), propped against her mother's hip while Sakura obviously tried not to cry, it was the hardest thing he would ever have to do. Now, standing across from the both of them as they stand side-by-side, Sakura clenching a bag with a bentō box inside and Sarada obviously trying not to cry the way her mother did so many years ago, he is sure that he was wrong. "When will you be back?" Sarada asks in a small voice.

His heart clenches as her eyes slide to the ground and her cheeks flush the way Sakura's do when she's barely holding back tears. He's seen the look too many times in his life-- he's been the cause of the look too many times in his life-- and it eats away at him that it is now being reflected on his daughter, once again his fault. In an uncharacteristic move of affection, he wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her in for a tight embrace.

"Papa..." She mumbles into his shoulder, muffled by the fabric of his cloak. Her arms don't lift to wrap around him before he's pulling back, but he doesn't take it as a personal attack, scanning her face as he pulls back.

She still looks ready to cry, barely holding back sniffles. "Don't make that face," he says, voice soft with barely-contained emotion. Over her shoulder, out of the corner of his eyes, he can see his wife giving them a warm, too-knowing look.

He lifts two fingers to press into her forehead, the otherwise tense, sad air filling with a soft _tap_ for hardly a second. "I'll see you next time," he says, a promise he knows he shouldn't make laced into his tone. He'll fight to make sure he keeps it, though. Sarada looks completely in awe, mouth agape in a half-smile he assumes she gets from him as she lifts a hand to her forehead before looking over her shoulder at her mother.

"Right..." Sakura says, stepping forward and offering the lunch to him. It's all either bought or prepared ahead of the time by Hinata, as Naruto's wife is a much better cook than his own (not that he'd ever say as much; it doesn't bother him in the slightest, but his wife seems to take it as a personal failing), but he knows it is filled with the same adoration as most of their day-to-day interactions are and it is entirely from Sakura. ( _Maybe Sarada a bit, too_ , he thinks, eyes sliding to where she stands, watching them with wide eyes. It occurs to him that she would have no memory of ever seeing her parents interact like this. _Perhaps at all_.) "Here's your lunch," she says, smile as wide and bright and filled with hope as the day they were all assigned to a genin squad together.

"Ah, right," he says, taking it from her.

He doesn't miss the way she leans in just slightly and recognizes it from years of being together. Her own cheeks are tinged with pink now, but he is certain it is with an entirely different emotion as their eyes meet for a moment.

He turns on his heels, cloak swishing around him. He can practically hear Sakura's shoulders slumping behind him, can see it in his mind's eye so clearly it is as though he is watching her with a Byakugan. "See you... I'll be back."

"You're gonna keep me waiting," she says, voice petulant, and he smirks to himself as he begins to walk away, clutching the bentō in his one hand as Sarada waves and calls partings behind him. Sakura simply mutters to herself, just loud enough that he can hear it, and he wonders if it is a strategic move on her part even as he has already planned three steps ahead of her.

There is a familiar sensation like what he imagines being caught on a fish hook and reeled in is like, and then he stands in front of his wife again, using the stump of his left arm to tilt her chin up. He kisses her quickly, mindful of their curious offspring, and offers her a small upturning of his lips. "You're still annoying."


End file.
